ST. BONIFACIUS - Minn. - Westminster football earned its third win of the season over Crown, 21-6.
The Blue Jays improve to 3-5 overall and 3-4 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
"This was a good, hard-fought team win," said Westminster Head Coach John Welty. "We went into today with a lot of unknowns, including starting the game without a few of our key players. We ended up getting exactly what we wanted from everyone who played."
Westminster scored in each of the first three quarters in three different ways. On the second Crown possession of the game, the Westminster defense produced the first offensive output of the day on an interception from Ben Heimann, who ran the ball back 49 yards for a touchdown. After a good kick from Brad Hammel, the Blue Jays went up 7-0 after one quarter.
"They are very well-prepared on defense and they were aggressive today," said Welty. "They were always in the right place at the right time."
The second quarter produced the longest drive of Westminster's season. Taking over six minutes and marching down the field a full 99 yards, the Westminster offense led by Bryce Moorman, earning his first career start, logged its first score of the game.
After five carries in a row from Ketrick Large to advance the team 18 yards, Moorman then completed two passes to Lucas Robinson for a total of 10 yards. After a personal foul call on the Blue Jays, Westminster found themselves on their second down with 18 yards to go. Large helped the cause with a five-yard rush, but it was a Moorman completion for 29 yards to Kidd Sutherlin that got the Blue Jays out of the third and long situation.
After another rush from Large, Moorman again completed a 29-yard pass to Sutherlin for the score. The touchdown was the first season touchdown pass for Moorman and first career touchdown catch for Sutherlin. After the good kick from Hammel, Westminster took the 14-0 lead going into the half.
"We got exactly what we wanted from both Bryce and Ketrick today," said Welty. "We didn't want to see anything flashy, we just wanted to see them open up their tool box and steadily work. I was happy with they way they performed."
On the first drive of the second half, Westminster punched in another touchdown drive. The drive was just six plays which included four rushes from Large and two passes from Moorman to Robinson. It was Large who took the one-yard rush for the touchdown, giving Westminster the 21-0 advantage.
The Westminster defense took over from there, logging three more interceptions from Jackson Ringhausen, Jacob Money, and Anthony Washington to stifle any chance the Storm had to get back in the game.
Crown was able to add one touchdown with just six minutes left in the game after a long pass completion and short rush that lasted just three plays.
Moorman went 8-10 passing on the day for 109 yards and one touchdown. Large took over a majority of the carries, adding 142 yards rushing on 40 carries. Sutherlin and Robinson split time receiving. Sutherlin made two catches for 58 yards while Robinson made six catches for 51 yards.
Ringhausen led the way for the defense, making seven tackles, including four solo. Along with his interception, he added one tackle for a loss of four yards. Ben Holt added three tackles for a loss of 16 yards, including one sack.
Westminster returns home for the season finale next Saturday against Northwestern (Minn.) at 12 p.m.
